Scott, 42, of Margate, was arrested at the school last March, accused of inappropriately touching the former student after making her sit on his lap in his classroom after regular school hours. The acts were allegedly committed during the 1985-1986 and 1986-87 academic years.

"The defendant showed poor judgment and inappropriate conduct," the judge said. "But that issue was not before this court."

"I'm just so glad this is over with. ... The students at the school loved me to death," Scott said as he wiped away tears and hugged his wife, Donna, a teacher at Sanders Park Elementary School.

Defense attorney Johnny L. McCray Jr. said outside the courtroom that Scott's case showed how "immense hysteria in the school system causes any innocent gesture by a male teacher to be misconstrued."

Tony Gentile, president of the Broward Teachers Union, agreed.

"There's been a heightened awareness about child abuse, and we're being revisited with the reaction of hysteria," he said. "We've had cases recently where normal hugs or pats of encouragement have been blown out of proportion.

"We have not taken a posture that teachers have to walk around with their hands in their pockets, but we have told them that certain affectionate gestures can be misconstrued," Gentile said.

Scott's attorney argued that the alleged victim, who was 10 and 11 at the time she said he assaulted her, had a crush on the teacher and made the accusations to get back at him for talking to another female student.

Scott's first trial, before a jury on Dec. 5, was declared a mistrial by the judge because a state witness testified about complaints by other female students against Scott, which Henning previously had ruled irrelevant to the case.

Several other female Cresthaven students told their parents that Scott had kissed or patted them but none said he fondled them and Scott was never charged in those cases.

Scott, a teacher at Cresthaven Elementary for three years and in Broward since 1969, took the stand on Tuesday, acknowleded that he sometimes hugged or kissed students on the cheek but denied fondling any of them.

"All the kids were really crazy about me," Scott testified. "They were boys and girls."

The alleged victim was not in Scott's class but would stop by his classroom at the end of the day to talk about mathematics and discipline problems, the former teacher testified.

The girl did not report the alleged assault until 2 1/2 years later and she changed her story several times. She initially told police that Scott only kissed her on the forehead once in the fourth grade. From the witness stand during Scott's first trial, the girl, now 14, testified that Scott fondled her several times a week for a year.

Prosecutor David Hodge blamed the girl's inconsistent testimony on her traumatic experiences and told the judge that all children have trouble telling the same story twice.

"The only thing that was consistent in the victim's testimony was that it was in conflict with her previous statements," the judge responded. "The conflicts were not necessarily based on confusion."

The girl was a student at Deerfield Middle School when she reported the alleged assaults to the school's guidance counselor. The day before she made the complaint, the girl had been riding home on a bus from the middle school and spotted the teacher talking with a female student outside Cresthaven Elementary.

"You were jealous when you saw Mr. Scott talking to the female student, weren't you?" McCray asked her during the first trial.

"No," the girl said.

McCray called the girl a pathological liar for denying that she gave notes to Scott saying, "I love you," writing a poem in a Christmas card she sent him or telling her girlfriends that she had a crush on him.

The School Board, after considering allegations of misconduct by Scott, recommended that he be suspended. Scott requested a hearing on the case but resigned on Oct. 31, before the hearing.

The board referred the case to the Department of Education, which has the power to revoke Scott's teacher's certificate. The department has yet to rule in the case.

A 14-year-old former Cresthaven Elementary student who testified during the trial said of Scott, "He was nice. I wanted to be in his class."

Scott, who works part time as a skycap at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, said he probably would not want to teach again even if he could.